Bot Traffic Shield – Block Bad Bots and Stop AI Bots Crawlers

In the age of AI, your valuable website content is a prime target for data crawlers from large tech companies. Bot Traffic Shield is your first line of defense against content theft and unauthorized scraping.

This lightweight yet powerful plugin identifies and blocks a wide range of AI bots and data scrapers before they can access and harvest your content, protecting your intellectual property while reducing unnecessary server load.

🛡️ Why You Need Bot Traffic Shield

• Protect Your Content – Stop AI companies from training their models on your hard work
• Reduce Server Load – Block unwanted traffic that wastes your bandwidth and resources
• SEO-Safe Blocking – 35+ legitimate search engines and social media indexers are automatically whitelisted and will NEVER be blocked
• Granular Control – Enable or disable protection against each AI provider individually (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Apple, ByteDance, and more)
• Real-Time Analytics – Beautiful interactive charts showing blocked traffic trends and bot breakdowns
• Take Control – Decide exactly who can and cannot access your valuable content

✨ Key Features

Interactive Analytics Dashboard (NEW in v1.0.5)
* Real-time Chart.js powered trend graphs and doughnut charts
* Switchable timeframes: 7-day, 14-day, and 30-day views
* KPI summary cards showing total blocks, today’s blocks, active rules, and top scraper
* Bot traffic breakdown showing which AI crawlers hit your site the most

Granular AI Crawler Toggles (NEW in v1.0.5)
* Individual on/off switches for each AI provider
* Covers OpenAI (GPTBot, ChatGPT-User), Anthropic (ClaudeBot), Google (Gemini/Extended), Perplexity, Meta (FacebookBot), Apple (Applebot-Extended), ByteDance (Bytespider), Common Crawl, Cohere, Amazon, Diffbot, You.com, and more
* Select All / Deselect All bulk actions for quick configuration
* Each toggle shows provider name, description, and exact User-Agent strings

SEO Safety & Search Engine Whitelist (NEW in v1.0.5)
* 35+ whitelisted search engines and social media indexers that are NEVER blocked
* Includes Googlebot, Bingbot, DuckDuckBot, Baiduspider, YandexBot, Twitterbot, LinkedInBot, Facebook, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, and more
* Explicit Allow: / rules added to robots.txt for all whitelisted bots
* Developer-friendly btsld_search_engine_whitelist filter hook for custom additions
* Standard Applebot (Siri/Spotlight) is whitelisted while Applebot-Extended (AI training) remains blockable

Real-Time Bot Blocking
* Actively blocks bots by their User-Agent on every page request
* Immediate protection with zero configuration needed
* Returns proper 403 Forbidden headers with no-cache directives

Comprehensive Default Blocklist
* Pre-configured list of 15+ AI crawler groups covering 20+ User-Agent signatures
* Includes GPTBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, PerplexityBot, Bytespider, FacebookBot, Meta-ExternalAgent, Applebot-Extended, CCBot, Amazonbot, and more
* Regularly updated with new bot signatures in each plugin version

Advanced Logging & Analytics
* Track every blocked bot attempt with detailed logs
* View bot name, IP address, user agent, and timestamp
* Pagination system – Browse through logs easily (20 entries per page)
* Daily aggregated statistics powering the dashboard charts
* Running statistics showing total and daily blocked requests

CSV Export Capability
* Export your block logs to CSV format with UTF-8 BOM for Excel compatibility
* Filter exports by date range (7 days, 14 days, 30 days, or all time)
* Includes timestamp, date, bot name, IP address, and full User-Agent

robots.txt Integration
* Automatically adds Disallow rules for blocked AI bots
* Automatically adds Allow rules for whitelisted search engines
* Provides dual-layer protection for both compliant and aggressive bots

Admin Toolbar Widget
* Real-time “Blocked Today” counter in the WordPress admin bar
* Quick-access dropdown links to Dashboard, AI Rules, Activity Log, and Settings
* Lifetime blocked count display

Fully Customizable
* Add your own custom User-Agent strings to block
* Simple textarea interface – one bot per line
* Enable/disable logging with a single toggle
* Master on/off switch for all blocking features

Modern, Intuitive Interface
* Beautiful 4-tab admin dashboard: Analytics, AI Rules, Settings, Activity Log
* Interactive Chart.js visualizations with smooth animations
* Card-based KPI metrics grid
* Modern toggle switches and responsive grid layouts
* Mobile-responsive admin panel
* No learning curve – start protecting immediately

Lightweight & Performance-Optimized
* Minimal impact on site speed
* Efficient code that runs before page load
* O(1) daily stats lookup for admin bar (no log iteration)
* No external API calls on frontend
* 60-day automatic stats pruning to keep database lean

🎯 Who Is This Plugin For?

• Content Creators – Protect your articles, tutorials, and creative work
• Bloggers – Keep your unique content from being scraped
• News Sites – Prevent unauthorized content aggregation
• E-commerce – Protect product descriptions and pricing data
• Publishers – Safeguard premium content from AI training datasets
• Any WordPress Site – That values their content and server resources

🚀 How It Works

1. Install and activate the plugin
2. Bot Traffic Shield immediately starts blocking known AI bots
3. Visit the Dashboard & Charts tab to monitor blocked traffic visually
4. Fine-tune protection in the AI Crawler Rules tab by toggling individual providers
5. Check the Activity Log tab for detailed block records
6. Export logs for analysis or record-keeping

No complicated setup. No API keys. No subscriptions.

🔒 Privacy & Security

• All data stays on your server
• No external services or third-party dependencies on frontend
• GDPR compliant – you control all logged data
• Logs can be cleared at any time with a single click
• Chart.js loaded locally for WordPress.org compliance

📊 Perfect For

✅ Reducing bandwidth costs
✅ Protecting original content from AI training
✅ Improving server performance
✅ Maintaining competitive advantage
✅ Monitoring AI scraper activity with visual charts
✅ Preventing unauthorized data harvesting

Stop letting AI companies profit from your hard work. Install Bot Traffic Shield and take back control of your content today!

Privacy Policy

Bot Traffic Shield logs the following information when a bot is blocked (if logging is enabled):
* User-Agent string
* IP address
* Request timestamp
* Bot identifier

All data is stored locally in your WordPress database. No information is sent to external servers. You can disable logging or clear logs at any time from the plugin settings. Daily statistics are automatically pruned after 60 days to minimize database usage.

Support

For support, feature requests, or bug reports:
* Visit our website: https://monarchwp.com/
* Email: info@monarchwp.com

Credits

Developed by MonarchWP